Roller support for self-twist spinning machine

ABSTRACT

The twisting rollers of a self-twist spinning mechanism are internally supported on spaced bearings carried by support mandrels. Each of the bearings for each roller are carried on a single mandrel and the mandrel is supported by the frame of the assembly at one end only so as to facilitate access to the bearings and changing of the rollers.

United States Patent [191 Pearce et al.

[ Apr. 30, 1974 ROLLER SUPPORT FOR SELF-TWIST SPINNING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Jack Hallam Pearce, Emerald; Peter Miles Chapman, Croydon, Victoria, both of Australia [73] Assignee: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization,

Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 22 Filed: Jan. 2, 1973 21 App1.No.:320,334

30 Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 30, 1971 Australia 7561/71 52 US. Cl. s7/77.42 51 Int. Cl. D01h 7/92, D02g 1/08 [58] Field of Search ..'57/34 R, 36, 51, 51.6,

Primary ExaminerDonald E. Watkins Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak ABSTRACT The twisting rollers of a self-twist spinning mechanism are internally supported on spaced bearings carried by support mandrels. Each of the bearings for each roller are carried on a single mandrel and the mandrel is supported by the frame of the assembly at one end only so as to-facilitate access to the bearings and changing of the rollers.

, 11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Z a 1 i J6 I7 4 /Z 1 m I 1 mm 1 i I 7 l l ml) in a 2'5 213/ PATENTEB APR 30 1874 SHEET 2 0F 2 ROLLER SUPPORT FOR SELF-TWIST SPINNING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION reciprocating twisting rollers. As shown in the aforei mentioned prior patent-specifications, the twisting rollers are supported for rotation and transverse reciprocation on air bearings and are rotatedand reciprocated in opposite vphase by'means of an epicyclic drive mechanism. The drive to the roller is transmittedby'connecting rods connected to the interior of the roller.

In the aforementioned prior construction the connectingrod is connected to its roller at about the midare carried by mandrels which are fixed in a frame one at each end of the roller. The connecting rod therefore passes through the bearing which is adjacent to the drive mechanism for the rollers. This construction -is more clearly illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of our aforementioned prior US. Pat. specification No. 3,693,339.

We have found that in practice, the prior construction possesses a number of disadvantages. There is first of all a difficulty in achieving true alignment of the bearings when their supports are bedded separately in the'frame of the machine ateach end of the roller. Furthermore, even if true alignment is achieved at the time of manufacture, there is still the danger of 'misalign ment and creep of the casting during bedding and'operation of the machine. A further difficulty is that in order to remove a roller from the machine it is necessary to remove the bearing at the outer end of the roller, i.e., the end remote from the drive mechanism, in order to gain access to the roller. Since the surfaces of the roller are subject to substantial wear they need fairly frequent replacement. This causes substantial difficulties. A still further difficulty arises out of the fact that in the prior construction, with the connection between the roller and the connecting rod being made at the centre of the roller, it is necessary to leave between the bearings a space which is slightly greater than the length of the stroke of the roller. This reduces the available bearing length and has meant in practice that it has not been possible to use bearings having the optimum length to diameter ratio (ideally about 2) the bearings have therefore been shorter than the ideal with consequent loss of load bearing capacity for a given pressure and bearing size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention has been made with the object of eliminating or substantially reducing the aforementioned disadvantages of our prior construction and with this object in view there is provided according to the present invention a roller twisting assembly for a self-twist spinning machine of the type wherein a hollow rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller is supported relapoint of the roller and bearings which support the roller tive to a frame member on a pair ofspaced bearings and wherein said bearings areeach carried by a single supporting mandrel and said mandrel is connected to -theframe member at oneend only of the roller assembly. Preferably, it is connected to the frame at the end adjacentto the drive mechanism. Preferably, also the driving'connec'tion to 'the rollers is made at the outer end of the roller, i.e., the end remote from the drive mechanism.

The presently preferred construction according to this invention is exemplified in the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG, '1 :is a side elevation of aro'ller assembly of a selftwist spinning machine,

FIG. 2 is across-sectional view on the line 2--2 i FIG. '1,

FIG. 3 is a'perspective view an outer end of abearing,

and

FIG'. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing an alternative construction.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in 'FIG. I, the roller assembly comprises a lower frame member 1, which carries a lower roller 2. Pivotally connected 'to the 'lower frame member-is an upper yoke frame 3 which carries an upper roller 4. As is more fully explained inthe said prior US. Pat. specification No. 3,693,339 the upper frame and its associated roller is delicately balanced about the pivot point 6 by means of counter-weight 7 and the loading on the upper roller urging it'towards the lower roller is adjustable by means-ofbalance weights '8 according to operational requirements.

In the construction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a rotatable and reciprocable upper and lower twisting rollers 2, 4 are each mounted on a hollow mandrel 11, 12 by means of spaced gas bearings 13,14, and 16,17. The upper mandrel 11 is mounted in the upper frame 3 adjacent to the drive end of the roller whilst the lower mandrel 12 is similarly mounted in the lower frame 1. Each mandrel is secured to its respective frame member by studs 10. The drive to each roller is transmitted from an epicyclic drive mechanism (not shown) through connecting rods 18,19 which pass through the centre of their respective mandrels and are attached to the outer end of their respective rollers by end nuts 21,22. Liners 23,24 are provided inside each mandrel and the annular spaces 20,30 thus formed in each man- I drel between the bore of the mandrel and the liner provide passages for gas (preferably air) which is supplied from the gas inlets 26,27 and is discharged to the bearings 13,14; 16,17 through orifices 28 in the bearings. In order to allow the bearings to exhaust a longitudinal slot 29 is milled in the surface of each mandrel and extends from the inner end of the inner bearing (13,16) to the outer end of the outer bearing (14,17) thus allowing the bearings to exhaust, via the slot into the space at the inner end of the bearing and thence back along the interior of the roller and/or through holes 31 provided in the outer end of each roller.

With the construction shown both bearings of each roller are carried by a single mandrel and each mandrel is attached to its respective frame member only at the inner end. Accordingly, no problem exists in aligning the supports of the two spaced bearings. Furthermore, the outer end of each roller is freely accessible so that in order to change the rollers or to otherwise attend to the roller and bearing assembly all that is necessary is to unscrew the nuts 21,22 connecting the rollers to the connecting rods and each roller can be removed from its mandrel by sliding it over'the end of the mandrel. It will also be seen that due to the fact that the driving connection is made at the outer end of the roller it is no longer necessary to provide separation between the bearings equal to the stroke of the roller. Thus the bearings may be made longer without increasing the overall length of the roller.

In an alternative construction shown in FIG. 4, designed to avoid the necessity for providing a long connecting rod the bearing support mandrels may be supported in the frame at the outer end of the assembly, i.e., the end remote from the drive mechanism. With such an arrangement, it is possible to make the driving connection to the roller at the inner end of the roller and thereby greatly shorten the connecting rod. This would have substantial advantages where very high speed operation is required. The parts of theassembly may be similarly constructed and have been similarly numbered. It will be noted however that in this embodiment the mandrels need not be sleeved.

In the exemplary embodiments described above,'we have described and illustrated only one bearing and and roller assembly. It is to be understood that the other; bearing and roller assembly of thepair may be similarly constructed and that other constructional details of the roller twister assembly may remain as described in our aforementioned prior patent specifications or they may be varied to suit constructional requirements. These and other modifications and variations aretherefore to be understood as not affecting the spirit and scope of the invention herein disclosed.

We claim:

l. A roller twisting assembly for a self-twist spinning machine of the type wherein a hollow rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller is supported relative to a frame member on a pair of spaced bearings and wherein said bearings are each carried by a single supporting mandrel and said mandrel is connected to the frame member at one end only of the roller assembly.

2. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller is driven by a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of the assembly and wherein said mandrel is connected to the frame member at said one end. i

3. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 2,

wherein said mandrel is a hollow mandrel and the roller is connected to the drive mechanism by means of a connecting rod passing through the mandrel and conis supplied to the bearings through the space between said sleeve and said inner wall. 7

6. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller is driven by a drive mechanism lo cated adjacent one end of the assembly and the mandrel is connected to the frame member at the end remote from said drive assembly.

7. A roller twister assembly for a self-twist spinning machine, comprising:

a first frame member and a first hollow bearing support mandrel carried by the first frame member,

7 a second frame member pivotally connected to said first frame member and a second hollow bearing support mandrel carried by said second frame member, v

a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of said assembly,

spaced bearings mounted on each said mandrel,

a rotatable and reciprocable twistingv roller carried by each said mandrel and supported by said bearings,

and v connecting means passing through each mandrel and connecting each twisting roller to the drive mechanism; I

said mandrels being each mounted in their respective frame members at their endsadjacent said drive mechanism and said connecting means being each connected to their .respective twisting rollers at their ends remote from said drive mechanism.

8. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein said bearings are gasbearings and gas is supplied to said bearings through said hollow mandrels.

9. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein each said mandrel is fitted with a hollow sleeve spaced from the inner wall of the mandrel andthe gas is supplied to the bearings through the space between said sleeve and said inner wall.

10. A roller twisting assembly for a self-twist spinning machine, comprising:

a first frame member and a first bearing support mandrel carried by the first frame member,

a second frame member pivotally connected to said first frame member and a second bearing support mandrel carried by said second frame member,

a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of said assembly,

spaced bearings mounted on each said mandrel,

- a rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller carried by each said mandrel and supported by said bearings,

and

connecting means connecting each twisting roller to the drive mechanism;

said mandrels being each mounted in their respective frame members at their ends remote from said drive mechanism and said connecting means being each connected to their respective twisting rollers at their ends adjacent to said drive mechanism.

11. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein said bearings are gas bearings and gas is supplied to said bearings through said mandrels. 

1. A roller twisting assembly for a self-twist spinning machine of the type wherein a hollow rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller is supported relative to a frame member on a pair of spaced bearings and wherein said bearings are each carried by a single supporting mandrel and said mandrel is connected to the frame member at one end only of the roller assembly.
 2. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller is driven by a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of the assembly and wherein said mandrel is connected to the frame member at said one end.
 3. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said mandrel is a hollow mandrel and the roller is connected to the drive mechanism by means of a connecting rod passing through the mandrel and connected to the roller at the end of the roller remote from said drive mechanism.
 4. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein said bearings are gas bearings and gas is supplied to said bearings through said hollow mandrel.
 5. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein said mandrel is fitted with a hollow sleeve spaced from the inner wall of the mandrel and the gas is supplied to the bearings through the space between said sleeve and said inner wall.
 6. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller is driven by a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of the assembly and the mandrel is connected to the frame member at the end remote from said drive assembly.
 7. A roller twister assembly for a self-twist spinning machine, comprising: a first frame member and a first hollow bearing support mandrel carried by the first frame member, a second frame member pivotally connected to said first frame member and a second hollow bearing support mandrel carried by said second frame member, a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of said assembly, spaced bearings mounted on each said mandrel, a rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller carried by each said mandrel and supported by said bearings, and connecting means passing through each mandrel and connecting each twisting roller to the drive mechanism; said mandrels being each mounted in their respective frame members at their ends adjacent said drive mechanism and said connecting means being each connected to their respective twisting rollers at their ends remote from said drive mechanIsm.
 8. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein said bearings are gas bearings and gas is supplied to said bearings through said hollow mandrels.
 9. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein each said mandrel is fitted with a hollow sleeve spaced from the inner wall of the mandrel and the gas is supplied to the bearings through the space between said sleeve and said inner wall.
 10. A roller twisting assembly for a self-twist spinning machine, comprising: a first frame member and a first bearing support mandrel carried by the first frame member, a second frame member pivotally connected to said first frame member and a second bearing support mandrel carried by said second frame member, a drive mechanism located adjacent one end of said assembly, spaced bearings mounted on each said mandrel, a rotatable and reciprocable twisting roller carried by each said mandrel and supported by said bearings, and connecting means connecting each twisting roller to the drive mechanism; said mandrels being each mounted in their respective frame members at their ends remote from said drive mechanism and said connecting means being each connected to their respective twisting rollers at their ends adjacent to said drive mechanism.
 11. A roller twisting assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein said bearings are gas bearings and gas is supplied to said bearings through said mandrels. 